No eggs in 9 weeks

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barneyrubble1965

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Can anybody tell me how to guess the age of my two araucana hens ?? I bought them 9 weeks ago and to date - zero eggs!! They certainly seem to be old enough, they've settled in to a nice garden environment, plenty of layers pellets and grit available as well as fresh water. I've tried placing dummy eggs in the nesting box but still no eggs. They were bought from a supposed reputable dealer in Surrey but I'm getting a little concerned that I may have been sold two geriatric hens !!
 
Hello, are they red faced? did they have red faces when you bought them? Are you sure they are not laying outside somewhere? Did the breeder say they were point of lay? Can you post any pictures of them? sorry for all the questions- just the more information the better.
regards, David :)
 
Hi
They are two lavendar araucanas, I'm pretty sure they are not laying outside as I vigourously search each evening whilst putting shutting the hen coop. They have full head of feathers (doubt that is the right terminology but hopefully you know what I mean). The breeder knew I was after POL birds and they were taken out of a pen with others present and with a few eggs lying around the enclosure so I thought nothing of it. I haven't got any photos to hand but will take a couple later and post them this evening.

kind regards

Barneyaraucanas.JPG
 
They should be about the right age to lay, looking at their size.

They will get very red combs / wattles when they lay.

POL is not infact when birds are about to lay. It can be anything from 15 to 20 weeks. It's obviously cheaper for breeders to sell birds at this age but also it gives them a few weeks to settle in to their new homes before laying.

The good news is the longer they wait the better really because you will get bigger eggs faster.
 
Just an update, Now 11 weeks and still the chickens are happily pecking about without producing any eggs.

:cry:
 
Don't worry, I had to wait ages too! In the end I think most came into lay at about 24/26 weeks & one (hatched July last year) didn't lay until the spring! She obviously wanted a lazy winter! But now she gives me an egg almost every day. I know that time of year influences their onset of laying but don't know if this applies to yours.
 
Thanks for the reassurance. I won't earmark them for the table just yet but will update this post frequently to inform all readers of their progress (with some updated photos from time to time). Any further advice is always much appreciated.
 
Yes they might also start for the autumn and are then quite likely to lay a fair few eggs over the winter months when our hens have stopped laying...
 
some sad news to bring. Went out eagerly as I do everyday to see if my araucanas had layed an egg or two only to find one of them (in the foreground in photo) dead in the corner of the chicken run. No sign of being attacked. Does this increase my belief that these birds were too old ?? or is this just 'one of those things' either way it leaves me with a single hen. I am still extremely interested in the araucanas so if any one reading this knows of a source that I can contact to replace my lost hen (preferably not from the surrey dealer the originals were bought from) then please let me know as I'd like the one remaining one to have a mate and I would very much like to have some fresh eggs!
 
Hello, it could be anything and without a P.M. you will never know. you could try putting a post in the chickens for sale/wanted forum- please put your location and wanted/for sale in the title post- good luck on finding your single hen some company soon.
regards, David :)
 
So sorry to hear you lost a hen.

They look young in the photos - older hens wouldn't have such neat feathers at this time of year - young growers would have just got their feathers and look good like this.

Can you check the house for Red Mite - rub under the perch at night with a white tissue and look for red blood stains, also look around perch ends / cracks etc.

It might be worth worming the last hen too - did they get messy feathers around their bottoms? It is possible they have picked up worms faster than normal by being mixed with older birds when young or put on well used ground by the breeder.

Finally, have a look between her feathers for lice - fast moving 1 to 2mm long and almost skin colour.

Other than this, I am surprised you lost a hen -but as David says, these things can happen and it could be almost anything.
 
Hi
I've checked the coop for red spider mite and am happy to state that are there no signs. Nor did I find any lice on the remaining hen. The deceased hen was a bit messy around the back end so I will take your advice and worm her. (do you recommend any particular product above others ?) As stated earlier I am desperately lookin for another araucana to join the remaing one so if anybody reading this has one then please drop me a line.
Cheers.
 
Hi you need to worm her with flubenvet- look here- it is the only licensed poultry wormer

http://poultrykeeper.com/chickens/health/flubenvet-60g-packs-for-worming-chickens.html

regards, David :)
 
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